TerryLema

A video went viral last week showing one young man shot in the leg in the Las Vegas shooting standing with difficulty when the President and First Lady entered his hospital room. It got millions of views. It also got a plethora of comments across all media.  Some adored it. Others vilified it.

The young man in the video said that he would always stand for “his country, his flag, his President.” He also warned his family that they would be the recipients of a lot of hateful comments. He was right in his prediction.

There has been a great deal of focus on standing, sitting and kneeling lately. Lots of posts, blogs, talking heads on television and voices over the radio have offered an opinion, sometimes forcefully.

I was taught decades ago that standing is a simple sign of respect. We were taught to stand for our “elders” and those who held public office, among others.

I choose whom I will respect. My respect is mine to give. I understand the social norms are not what they used to be, but I still have a choice. I also understand that others have the right to choose differently.  As I say that, I remember the chorus of a song we sing in church … “I stand, I stand in awe of You. I stand, I stand in awe of You. Holy God to whom all praise is due, I stand in awe of You.”

There is One before whom I will always stand. “Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O LORD; I will sing praises to your name.” [Ps 18:49 NIV]

Exousia (ex-oo-see’-ah) – it means authority jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength.

Dunamis (doo’-nam-is) – it means force, power, ability, strength.

We were discussing Matthew 10:1 in last week’s Bible Study. “He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” [Matt 10:1 NIV]

Some translations say Jesus gave them authority, some say Jesus gave them power. The Greek word used is exousia. I heard a minister describe the difference between exousia and dunamis this way:  A policeman meets a criminal on the street, both have a gun. Both have power, dunamis. But the policeman carries a badge and has the weight of the law behind him, that’s exousia, authority.

Jesus delegated His authority over evil spirits, disease and sickness to His disciples as He sent them out. Mark tells us the outcome. “They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.” [Mark 6:12-13 NIV]

We’ve noted in these last weeks that discipleship has a cost, but we should also note that discipleship has a delegated authority to function in the name of Jesus Christ. We are not perfect vessels and do not always operate in that authority. We don’t always hear distinctly what Jesus commands us to do. But we should be aware that when we hear Jesus tell us to pray a certain way or speak a certain word, His authority is with us to do so.

The events of last Sunday night in Las Vegas were despicable, people murdered and injured attending a concert below because a lunatic had the desire to kill high up from a hotel window. He fired down into the crowd and then cowardly took his own life when he knew the police were close. People were injured by gunfire. Some were trampled as the crowd fled in fear.

There were many acts of bravery. People stayed with the injured and tried to help even as the bullets continued to rain down upon them. They worked to get others out of the line of fire. One young man told the press that another young man he didn’t know died in his arms and he wanted the family to know that he didn’t die alone.

But, the injured were barely removed to hospitals when the rhetoric began. Once again there are calls for gun laws; once again people arguing against same.

I was thinking of what the devil told Eve in the Garden when he approached her with the temptation to disobey God … “For God knows that when you eat of it [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” [Gen 3:5 NIV]

Those in the Garden chose wrong.  Now our eyes are certainly open and we know both good and evil. We, however, can choose correctly – God gave the invitation to Israel and it is still valid for us today. “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life.” [Deut 30:19-20 NIV]

I have today, tomorrow and Monday off work. A three-day weekend. A holiday weekend!  The holiday? Columbus Day.  Columbus Day? What are we celebrating on Columbus Day?

Actually, I don’t really care. I am sure the holiday has rich meaning for some, but it has no particular import for me at all.  All I care about is that I don’t have to go to work on Monday.

This month has another event that has no particular significance to me, but apparently has great significance at the office where I work.  Halloween. They have a big party on Halloween. Everyone dresses up in costumes and they do a pot luck.  I think for them it is a stress reliever as their most stressful season of work begins the next day, November 1 and goes through the end of the year.

I haven’t dressed up in a costume since I was a child – well, except for that clown costume I wore to the convalescent home when we ministered there once on Halloween. This year the group I work with have chosen to be minions. That costume consists of jeans, a yellow shirt, and suspenders.

Though not a fan of Halloween, I am a fan of laughter, cheerfulness and joy. If dressing as a minion brings laughter and cheerfulness and joy to these lovely people I work with, then minion it is!

Proverbs 15:30:  “A cheerful look brings joy to the heart ….”  [NIV]

I just looked at the bottom of the Word document where I write my devotions and what caught my attention was that fact that since I began this second half of the year’s devotions on July 1, I have written 28,489 words. Make that 28,496 words now …. That’s a lot of words! And that is only since July 1! There were 59,274 from January 1 through June 30. Wow.

In church, we sing a song written by Matt Redmond, “Let My Words Be Few.” It begins this way, “You are God in heaven / And here am I on earth / So I’ll let my words be few / Jesus I am so in love with You.”

That beginning verse comes from Ecclesiastes 5:2: “Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.” [NIV]

I think I will take that good advice and today let my words be few. And I can’t think of any better words to utter today than…

Jesus, I am so in love with You.

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.”  [Phil 1:9-10 NIV]

Don’t you just love it when you are reading in Scripture and suddenly a phrase or thought captivates your attention.  Happens to me all the time.  I’ll try to read further, but I just keep coming back to that one phrase that seems to resonate with my spirit at that moment.  Today it was the phrase in Philippians, “able to discern what is best.”

I like the way the NKJV says it, “that you may approve the things that are excellent.”

Every day we make choices.  Some of them are simple choices, eggs or cereal for breakfast, which brand of something to buy, what color shirt to wear. Some of them are more serious or complicated, put the money in savings or take that vacation, continue to date this person, opt for treatment or let the disease run its course.

Paul’s prayer for his beloved Philippians is that they might have the ability to look at all the choices and pick the most excellent one. And I would think to Paul the most excellent choice is the choice that has eternal factors, the choice that leads toward God and not away from Him. How will this affect my relationship with my beloved Savior? What are the eternal consequences? Knowing that it would take more and more knowledge and spiritual insight, Paul prayed for them.  That is my prayer for you and for me today.

Father, may our love grow in knowledge of You. May we have deep insight through Your Spirit so that we might always choose what is best eternally. Amen.

Reading on a little further in Luke’s Gospel we come to a parable about serving two masters. At the end of that parable, Jesus says, “‘No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.’  The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.’” [Luke 16:13-15 NIV]

As I read that verse I was confronted immediately with the question, “So what is highly valued among men?” Jesus made it clear that what this world highly values is detestable in God’s sight. Since that is true, we need to answer that question. What does this world value?  I can start off with a host of things, wealth, success, power, talent, intellect, social status. You can probably name a host of other things.

I am not sure I read anywhere in Scripture that these are bad things in themselves. After all, many of God’s people had wealth (Abraham), success (Deborah/Barak), power (Solomon), talent (David), intellect (Paul), social status (Esther).  I think, however, that when we start serving those things rather than allowing those things to serve us, we enter into idolatry. And you cannot serve both God and an idol no matter what that idol is.

Whatever we highly value more than God Himself is going to get us in trouble. Idolatry is detestable to God in any form.

Father, may I always place You above everything else in my life. May I never bow my knee to an idol, no matter what form that idol may take. Search my heart, find any wicked thing in me, and remove it far from me. Amen.

October 3

Following on the heels of Jesus’ discourse on the cost of discipleship we find Jesus now taking on the establishment, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.  Luke 15:1-2: Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” [NIV]

Jesus, “friend of sinners.” I have often heard that title applied to our Lord. I have often rejoiced in that declaration of Jesus’ love for me—a sinner.  Other times I have had someone paraphrase that verse in wrong ways. To them it meant that Jesus accommodates their sin and that Christians should also.

Yes, Jesus is a friend to sinners. Yes, Jesus loves sinners, but, that doesn’t mean that Jesus loves sin, nor that He will accommodate it in anyone. In fact, He suffered and died on a Roman cross because of our sin.

We need to understand what it means when we say that Jesus “welcomes sinners and fellowships with them.” He gave three parables as He explained His love for sinners to these Pharisees and the teachers of the law.  Luke 15, beginning in verse 3 speaks of a lost sheep, a lost coin, a lost son.  (Read Luke 15 today).

As you read you will notice a commonality through each parable. Something is lost. There is also the common theme of finding what is lost. And there is rejoicing over sinners who repent of their sins . “There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” [Luke 15:10 NIV]

It’s not about abiding in our sin and being friends with Jesus.  It’s about abandoning our sin and becoming His disciple.

In Luke 14 large crowds were traveling with Jesus when He turned to them and began to talk to them about the cost of discipleship. Perhaps Jesus sensed that the large crowds were there to “see the show” rather than to follow Him as a disciple. Following Jesus at that time in his ministry must have been exciting. There were miracles as well as confrontations with the establishment and occasionally a great free supper for all.

Jesus needed His followers to understand that being His disciple, His follower, meant far more than a little entertainment.  He used the illustrations of a builder who wants to build a tower and a king facing opposition. Both must consider the cost.

The builder must have enough money to finish what he started. Not finishing would be a matter of ridicule.  The king must decide if he has enough resources to win the battle he’s facing.

Jesus went on and applied those principles to discipleship.  “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” [Luke 14:33]

We, too, must weigh the cost of discipleship. To finish (the building and be victorious in the battle) will cost us everything. Are we willing to give it all?

I once heard a man refer to his wife as “his cross to bear.” I’ve heard people refer to other things as their “cross to bear.” Most of those references were about petty things, those small annoyances of life that everyone has. I don’t think that is what Jesus meant when he said to the crowd in Luke 14: “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” [v27]

Earlier in Luke Jesus also spoke of picking up our cross. “If anyone comes after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” [9:23 NIV]

It must be important for Jesus to mention it twice. Look at the words Jesus used in those two instances and you’ll find a depth of meaning.  First to consider is simply “the cross.”  The cross was an instrument of death. It had no mercy. Everyone who went to the cross died. Second, Jesus said that we are to carry our cross “daily” as we follow him, meaning this is an everyday experience, not a sporadic one.  The last thing we must consider is that little phrase “deny himself.”

Putting those thoughts together, we get a glimpse what Jesus intends for His disciples. Each day we put our own will and desires, our self, to death.  Hanging on our crosses are all our “self” words. Self-pity. Self-centeredness. Self-glory. Self-determination. Instead of “self” we live for Him. His desires are our desires. His will, our will.

Father, that is our desire today. To put to the cross self and to live for You. Amen.